Recap: Stick to the Plan

Little Fires Everywhere Duo Season 1 Episode 5 Editor’s Rating 4 stars **** «Previous Next Photo: Courtesy of Hulu The fifth episode of Little Fires Everywhere is like a televised retort to those obnoxiously positive affirmations on the power of planning that you see painted on framed glass in drugstore checkouts and on throw pillows. It’s a reminder that planning to have the perfect life that you think you want is a possibility, if you have the means and the desire to shut down anything or anyone that could cause a deviation from this path to fulfillment — even your own desires. The bookends of the episode’s flashback opening and big reveal in the ending also suggest that not everything we think we know about Elena and Mia — the duo of this story, although not the two who inspire this episode’s title — is necessarily correct. In a “you never really know your parents” nod, this episode starts in 1976 Paris, where a fun, free-spirited Elena gyrates on a disco floor in hot pants and a sequined halter. A handsome sweaty man comes to join her, but she has other ideas in mind. They go back to a small… Read full this story